House committee passes bill to limit price of insulin in Kentucky

House committee passes bill to limit price of insulin in Kentucky
House Bill 12 would cap the cost of insulin at $100 a month in Kentucky. (Source: Pexels)

FRANKFORT, Ky. (WKYT) - A bill to limit the price of insulin has passed a Kentucky House committee.

Supporters say capping the cost per month of the diabetes drug would save lives.

With the increased price of insulin, some people are paying more than a thousand dollars a month.

House Bill 12 would cap that cost at just one hundred dollars a month... that’s regardless of the amount or type of insulin needed to fill a person’s prescription.

The bill states one out of every eight Kentuckians has been diagnosed with diabetes, which is about half a million people. It says most of those people struggle to pay for their full recommended insulin dosage, and some even ration it out incorrectly just to cut down on costs.

The bill's sponsor, Representative Danny Bentley (R), District 98, is also diabetic. He personally knows the high price of insulin.

“My box of five pens of Lantis retail in the United States is 289 to 290 dollars a box of five. So, if I have to have four boxes that would be approximately 12-hundred dollars a month, times twelve so you could see how much cash I would be out per year,” Bentley said.

If this bill becomes a law, Kentucky would be the third state to put a price cap in insulin.

Governor Beshear hasn't commented on this specific bill, but last spring, when he was the state attorney general, he sued three leading insulin manufacturers, accusing them of unfair price increases.

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